Is Ruby Running?
I don’t like starting rumours, but after having seen ‘yourvoices.ca’ and getting an absolute ton of “Dr. Ruby Dhalla” google ads in my gmail account, I’m beginning to wonder. As you may recall during the lead up to the 2009 Leadership Race that wasn’t, Dhalla was sending out feelers and deciding whether it was a good idea or not to jump in. She ultimately didn’t, and the rest is history, or is it?
Consider this, the cut off to enter the race is not until some time in February or March 2009, it takes $90 000 and a prayer on paper to do it at this point. If one was able to seriously find 90 000 people who would each donate a buck, presumably many would donate 10 or 20, which would be damn close to the cost of a run. Further, if these 90 000 people who each donated a buck so their voices could be heard (this I will address later) also joined the Liberal Party before February 6th, they would join an existing membership of just under 70 000 and therefore be a majority, but also a majority who are interested in engaging the grassroots and therefore probably not thrilled by the events of last week.
I’m not saying this is a good idea, and if anyone were to organize under this kind of pretext, while I would recognize ingenuity, I’d have trouble supporting them because the self interest index would be off the chart. That being said, as a strategy, it isn’t such a bad plan. I mean if you can convince a grassroots movement to form, in effect take over the party, and have found a ton of donors to make it all possible in the process, you could spring out of the gate after all these members have joined and seek the Leadership with at least have some hope of making it happen.
Whomever owns www.yourvoices.ca registered it on November 23rd 2008, – four days before even the economic update happened and therefore the coalition idea had not even been born. They also put the privacy feature on when registering so it is unclear whose it is, but it is safe to say that this is not a formal Liberal Party thing as it does not carry the “authorized by” message, and Ignatieff’s folks wouldn’t make mistakes like that. Also – when asked on November 18th by the Brampton Guardian – she didn’t say no, she said “I am currently consulting with supporters and senior Liberals from coast to coast as to what the future holds. I will be making my decision public in the near future.”
The long and short of it is I’d like to go on record early suggesting that I see this as a pretext to either sneak up this time if yourvoices.ca is successful in finding 90 000 new liberals who will each donate and join the party before the cut off, and if it is not successful in the short term than I’m sure it is part of a “next time” campaign. The latter has more danger as so many Liberals are sick of the people who campaign for leader when we have one who has not announced any intentions to stand down. That being said, those who use that strategy (Turner, Chretien, Martin, Ignatieff) have won four of the last five leaderships. If this is the case, Ignatieff will need to stamp it out by allowing the concept, but making it a party thing, because we cannot afford another one of those.
The general idea of a www.yourvoices.ca concept makes sense, but the “pay to play” aspect is problematic. I am a grassroots Liberal with a lot of ideas, but some how pulling out my credit card (which I am sitting on and could quite easily) to make a donation to what could end up being a leadership campaign, and is not an official party process on engagement (therefore easier to ignore) just doesn’t seem like a big motivator for me.
I think the Liberal Party of Canada desperately needs to do some serious thinking about outreach, but it needs to be the National Executive, and the Leader heading up the process with some built in accountability. A Red Ribbon 2.0 may be in order, because the last one appears not to have worked, at least in the short term.
For those who think I might be a little nuts for my suggestion that this is a pretext to Dhalla throwing in, keep in mind the February or March deadline to file. The party has not suspended the convention, there will still be a convention and it will pick the leader. The membership cut off is on February 6th and the delegate election weekend is March 6-10th. The single largest challenge to beating a front runner is membership sales.
Read Ruby Dhalla’s letter posted on the main page after considering the facts above:
“Dear Friends,
Yourvoices.ca is about you. It’s about having your voice heard. It’s about making a difference.
Yourvoices.ca is a grassroots campaign to open the Liberal Party to new voices, to new visions, and a new future. This campaign is about building from the bottom up, about reaching into communities, about connecting with families, listening, and changing the way we do politics in our nation. With Yourvoices.ca you have the power to be apart of history for a cause that is greater than any one of us.
Yourvoices.ca has been created to hear your thoughts and suggestions of how we can better connect with Canadians, give them hope and inspire them to believe. As the Liberal Party goes through the journey of electing a new leader you have the opportunity to be apart of this change to make sure we get it right!
The goal is to have 90,000 new voices to help renew and rebuild The Liberal Party. If each of these voices contribute at least $1, Yourvoices.ca can raise $90,000, the amount that was needed to become a candidate. Yourvoices.ca is the voice of the people. Tell your friends, neighbours, colleagues and community members to join Yourvoices.ca. 90,000 people donating $1 each will raise the $90,000 we need to make history.
I am excited to be a part of this campaign which is about the grassroots, and look forward to reading your ideas and your voices. As we build a Canada in which every child, man and women, has the ability to believe, achieve and succeed.
Dr. Ruby Dhalla
Member of Parliament
Brampton-Springdale”
Tags: Dhalla seeking Liberal Leadership, Grassroots Outreach, Liberal Leadership, Liberal Party of Canada, Ruby Dhalla, www.yourvoices.ca
December 15th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
No, you’re not nuts. Its obvious. This is more than a feeler…
December 15th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
The website is certainly a signal of Dhalla’s intention to run for the Liberal leadership, but not necessarily a sign that she will jump into the ring this time around. Probably a smarter idea — and now that Ignatieff is interim leader, probably the idea she has — is to use the yourvoices.ca campaign to raise her profile and standing in the party in the short term, making her a much more viable candidate in the eventual race to replace Ignatieff.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:56 am
[...] Is Ruby Running? …make it all possible in the process, you could … February 6th and the delegate election weekend … for a cause that is greater than any one [...]
December 17th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Hi John,
This was the letter I wrote to Ms. Dhalla re: her website:
*****************
Dear Ms. Dhalla,
Having followed your most interesting (and largely, admirable) political career over the last four years , I was introgued by your new website yourvoices.ca which I did check out over the weekend.
I have the following comments to make. They might sound harsh, but I am non-partisan and have been a well-wisher of yours for a while, so take these comments in that spirit.
(a) This website has NOTHING to do with us or the grassroots. It seems to be yet another RUBY DHALLA promotion vehicle along with the youtube clips (whose stated objective was also about promoting grassroots) and the constant Google ads and strategically-timed press releases on the flavour of the day. If nothing, your ability to use (manipulate ?) media tools to promote yourself is admirable.
(b) OBAMA you are not: I know lots of politicians see themselves as the next Obama, but guess what – there is only one like him. This website is the poorest imitation of his grassroot efforts to get elected. Read the “Audacity of Hope” and you will see the years of community work and thinking that got him to where he is.
(c) You mean we cannot submit our thoughts without opening our wallets first? Hoorah to grassroot empowerment!!! – Seriously, what a crass and cheap way to raise money !! you can do much better than that.
(d) Seriously, with no cabinet experience, little French if any at all, and very little work experience prior to becoming an MP, what makes you think you have it in you to be a leader? Is being young, female and Indian the new “qualification” to be a party leader ?? Ujjal Dosanjh who has decades of experience and a former premier and cabinet minister was humble enough to state that he could not run for leader despite his experience because of his French – yet somehow that does not apply to you – being young, female and from a “cultural community” is all it takes!
(e) This whole website is a disgrace, not to mention a farce.
And to think I actually thought highly of you for so long .. what a shame!
Nevertheless, I wish you all the best and happy holidays.
Regards,
Sumitra
December 17th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Sumitra,
Thanks fore sharing your thoughts with me! I think a lot of grassroots feel the same way. – Notice how it doesn’t involve two way communitication or collaboration at all? It just doesn’t seem very engaging to whip out your wallet and share your two cents.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I don’t think it is legal to collect donations for a leadership campaign without explicitly being a candidate. The site says the money goes to the “Fund for the Next Generation”. Any idea what that is and whether it is considered a political donation or not?
December 19th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
[...] my post “Is Ruby Running?” – my immediate response to viewing ‘www.yourvoices.ca’. I suggested that 90 000 members [...]